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Yamaha FS820
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany
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Playability
77
Sound
79
Build
62
Value
83
Score
73
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Playability
73
Sound
80
Build
72
Value
85
Score
75
FIND IT ON:
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Yamaha FS820 vs Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany

Reasons to Get
Yamaha FS820 over Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany

Frets Height
Taller vs Shorter
Easier to press down strings and bend them
Body Shape
Concert vs Dreadnought
Compact body with balanced tones
Scale Length
25'' (635mm) vs 25.3'' (642.6mm)
Easier bending, shorter fret separation and warmer natural tone
Fretboard Radius
15.75'' (400.1mm) vs 12'' (304.8mm)
Flatter fretboard makes it easier to play single notes and bend

Reasons to Get
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany over Yamaha FS820

Country of Manufacturing
Indonesia vs China
Built with higher quality standards
Release Year
2018 vs 2016
From a more recent year
Pickups Brand
Fishman vs None
Pickups from a renown brand
Body Shape
Dreadnought vs Concert
Prominent low-end tones in a large body
Scale Length
25.3'' (642.6mm) vs 25'' (635mm)
Lower action and brighter natural tone
Fretboard Radius
12'' (304.8mm) vs 15.75'' (400.1mm)
More curved fretboard helpful to play chords without muting strings
Value Score
85 vs 83
Better price/quality relationship

Other Key Differences
Yamaha FS820 vs Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany

Bridge Material
Rosewood or Walnut vs Walnut
Different Bridge Material
Body Wood
Spruce vs Mahogany
Different Body Wood
Neck Wood
Nato vs Mahogany
Different Neck Wood
Fretboard Wood
Rosewood vs Walnut
Different Fretboard Wood

Shared Features
Yamaha FS820 vs Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany

Back Material
Mahogany
Same Back Material
Sides Material
Mahogany
Same Sides Material
Saddle Material
Plastic
Same Saddle Material
Headstock
3-3
Same Headstock
Nut Material
Plastic
Same Nut Material
Strings
6
Same playing style
Body Type
Hollowbody
Warm tone, lighter and acoustic sound
Switch Positions
0
Same pickups versatility
Volume Knobs
0
Same volume control
Tone Knobs
0
Same tone control
Number of Frets
20
Same maximum octave
Nut Width
1.693'' (43mm)
Same string separation at the nut
Paint Finish
Poly
Resistant paint that ages well
Bridge
Fixed
Good sustain and needs no set-up
Neck Profile Type
C
Comfortable neck that works for most people
Type of Frets
Medium vs Vintage
You'll feel the fretboard when pressing down the strings

Common Strengths

  • Solid Top Wood
  • Expensive Wood

Common Weaknesses

  • Solid Side Wood
  • Solid Back Wood
  • Pickup Alter Switch/Knob
  • Locking Tuners
  • High-Quality Nut
  • High-Quality Frets
  • Compound Radius Fretboard
  • Luminescent Sidedots
  • Strap Lock
  • 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • Active/Passive Preamp

Table of Contents

Price History Comparison

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Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany Prices

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Which One is Better Overall?

After going through our comparison algorithm, the results show that the Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany is probably the better product overall with its final score of 75 compared to the Yamaha FS820's 73 score, although not by a lot.

The Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany wins when it comes to sound, build quality, value for the money. On the other hand, the Yamaha FS820 has the upper hand when it comes to playability.

If you got small hands, none of these instruments will make a big difference when it comes to comfortability.

Which One is Better for Beginners?

If you're looking for your first guitar to learn how to play, the Yamaha FS820 is the better choice.

The Yamaha FS820 meets 4 out of our 8 criteria items for beginner friendliness, while the Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany meets only 2. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players.

New Player Friendliness

Yamaha FS820
  • Comfortable shape
  • Easy-to-use bridge
  • Tall frets
  • Comfortable neck
  • Comfortable fretboard
  • Narrow nut
  • Short scale
  • Soft Strings
  • Locking tuners

New Player Friendliness

Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany
  • Easy-to-use bridge
  • Comfortable neck
  • Comfortable shape
  • Comfortable fretboard
  • Tall frets
  • Narrow nut
  • Short scale
  • Soft Strings
  • Locking tuners

Nevertheless, when it comes to choosing an instrument, you should pick the one more compatible with your personal style. Still, below we'll try you to give you our results as objectively as it's possible to help you decide.

Yamaha FS820 Overview

  • From Yamaha's 2016 FG / FGX series
  • Made in China
  • 6 strings
  • 25"'' scale
  • 15.75" Fretboard Radius
  • Solid Spruce top
  • Mahogany back
  • Mahogany sides
  • Nato neck
  • Rosewood or Walnut fretboard
  • Bridge pickup: (/)
  • Rosewood or Walnut bridge
  • Acoustic C Set neck
  • 20 Medium frets
  • Die-Cast Chrome (TM29T) tuners
  • Compare Specs >

Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany Overview

  • From Fender's 2018 Classic Design series
  • Made in Indonesia
  • 6 strings
  • 25.3"'' scale
  • 12" Fretboard Radius
  • Solid Mahogany top
  • Laminated Mahogany back
  • Laminated Mahogany sides
  • Mahogany neck
  • Walnut fretboard
  • Bridge pickup: Fishman CD-1 Preamp (Preamp/Passive)
  • Walnut bridge
  • Acoustic Fender 'Easy-to-Play' shape with rolled fretboard edges Set neck
  • 20 Vintage frets
  • Chrome Die-Cast tuners
  • Compare Specs >

Sound Quality Comparison

The most important thing that will determine the tone of an acoustic guitar is the wood. Let's take a look at the differences between both .

Woods Used in Both

Mahogany wood pattern used for guitar building
Mahogany

Mahogany is a fairly rare wood nowadays. It's used mostly for bodies due to its relatively lightweight. Gibson popularized it with their Les Paul guitars during their golden years, so this wood has a lot of good reputation behind it. The most expensive type comes from South America and it's still used by Gibson even today. Find out more about Mahogany.

Woods Used in the Yamaha FS820

Nato wood pattern used for guitar building
Nato
Rosewood wood pattern used for guitar building
Rosewood
Spruce wood pattern used for guitar building
Spruce

Nato a hard and dense wood similar to Mahogany, but cheaper and not quite as hard. Tone-wise, it's also similar, but it doesn't have quite the same attack as Mahogany.

Rosewood is an almost purple-looking wood that is used mainly for fretboards since it's heavy, rare, and expensive. It's sometimes used on acoustic guitar bodies to create stronger warm tones. Find out more about Rosewood.

Spruce has a light color with tight grain patterns. It's very stiff but relatively light. It's known for producing a well-rounded tone with a broad dynamic range. Find out more about Spruce.

Woods Used in the Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany

Walnut wood pattern used for guitar building
Walnut

It's a hard wood with a chocolate color that is often used to give an elegant finish. Since it's quite expensive and rare, it's mostly used for guitar tops. Find out more about Walnut.

Winner: Yamaha FS820.

Electronics

The Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany comes with a preamp that allows you to connect it to an amp, unlike its competitor. This allows it to have more versatility and sound quality if you want to record with it or play live.

Winner:Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany.

Final Sound Quality Scores

Yamaha FS820
Sustain 70
Versatility 80
Tuning Stability 65
Sound 79
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany
Sustain 75
Versatility 80
Tuning Stability 65
Sound 80

Build Quality Comparison

When it comes to build quality, we like to take into account everything used to build the instrument. This includes materials, hardware and the quality control expected depending on the country where it was built. Let's see how the Yamaha FS820 compares to the Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany.

Country of Origin

The manufacturing country can tell a lot about the build quality of an instrument. The Yamaha FS820 is built in China while the Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany is made in Indonesia.

China has a bad reputation when it comes to building quality. However, times have changed and now respectable brands use China's cheap labor to build good instruments for a lower price. Don't discount a guitar only because it was built in China, but also expect more quality from countries like Korea.

Indonesia is becoming the most popular country for guitar building because they can make good instruments for a low price. Some people think that they're 'the new China' when it comes to build quality. But the truth is that Indonesian guitars are more consistent, although Chinese quality has improved a lot in the last few years.

Winner: Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany

Nut Material

If you want your guitar to stay in tune and sound good, you need a well cut nut. Nut quality can be inconsistent even when comparing two copies of the same model. The best way to make sure you're nut will be well done is by getting a nut made by an expert company like TUSQ or Micarta.

In this case, both have Plastic nuts. This is a low-quality nut that you might want to consider upgrading soon. Bone and TUSQ nuts are the best for guitars with a fixed or simple tremolo bridge.

Fret Material

Most fret wire is made of nickel silver. This material eventually wears down after a lot of use and most instruments end up needing a complete fret replacement. However, some expensive models come with stainless steel frets. This is what you should aim for if you can afford it.

Unfortunately, none of them come with stainless steel frets.

Winner: Tie.

Tuners

Both come with regular tuners. The Yamaha FS820's are Die-Cast Chrome (TM29T) while the Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany's are Chrome Die-Cast

Winner: Tie.

Here is the list of features that were considered when choosing the winner in the Features subcategory:

Strengths & Weaknesses
Yamaha FS820
  • Expensive Wood
  • Solid Top Wood
  • Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
  • No Locking Tuners
  • Made in China
  • No High-Quality Nut
  • No Top Brand Pickups
  • No Electronics
  • Low-Quality Material Saddle
  • Laminated Side Wood
  • Laminated Back Wood
  • No Compound Radius Fretboard
  • No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • No Strap Lock
Strengths & Weaknesses
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany
  • Expensive Wood
  • Top Brand Pickups
  • Electronics
  • Solid Top Wood
  • Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
  • No Locking Tuners
  • Made in Indonesia
  • No High-Quality Nut
  • Low-Quality Material Saddle
  • Laminated Side Wood
  • Laminated Back Wood
  • No Compound Radius Fretboard
  • No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • No Strap Lock

Final Build Quality Scores

Yamaha FS820
Quality of materials 66
Features 65
Quality Control 55
Build Quality 62
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany
Quality of materials 66
Features 85
Quality Control 65
Build Quality 72

Playability Comparison

Let's now compare their playability. Bear in mind that the instrument will feel different depending on your hand size and play style. That's why you should always test before buying. But if you can't or want a second opinion on it, we can still take a look at each of the important measurements of the instrument for you. This way, we can predict how easy a guitar might be to play, or how different it will feel compared to the other.

Remember that, even though the difference might seem small, every inch counts when it comes to feeling of the instrument in your hands. Any variation can completely change how comfortable a guitar feels in your hands.

Nut Width

Yamaha FS820 Nut Width
Both Guitars Have The Same Nut Width

The nut width will affect the separation between strings at the nut. In this comparison, both have a nut width of 43mm (1.693'').

This is within the most common range of nut widths for a 6-string guitar. It offers a good balance of string separation at the nut. It's the size that most guitarists prefer as it gives them just enough space to play open chords without muting the strings, but without spreading the strings too wide and making bar chords difficult to perform.

Scale Length

Yamaha FS820's Scale Length
Yamaha FS820's Scale Length
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany's Scale Length
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany's Scale Length

The scale length is one of the things that influences playability the most. This is the distance between the nut and the bridge and will affect everything from low action allowance, difficulty to perform bends, fret separation, and even tone.

The Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany has the longest scale: 25.3". The Yamaha FS820 is only 25" long. This is a 0.3'' (7.6mm) scale length difference.

This longer scale means that the strings need more tension to get in tune. This is good if you want to avoid fret buzz, which can happen when the strings are too loose and touch the frets while vibrating. This is especially important when playing in lower tunings. This will also let you reduce the gap between fretboard and strings (low action) to make them easier to press down. However, this higher tension will also make it harder to perform bends and vibratos as the strings will feel stiffer.

This also means that the frets have a longer separation between each other, so this will make it harder for people with smaller hands when playing some chord positions.

Another characteristic of a longer scale is that it makes the guitar sound 'snappier' or brighter. This is due to the extra separation between harmonics and overtones produced by the tension. This influences tone more than any other factor (except the pickups).

Lastly, remember that you can also affect the tension of the strings by changing your string gauge. You can use a thicker gauge for more tension and a lighter one for less tension.

Neck Profile

Yamaha FS820 Neck Profile
Yamaha FS820's neck profile
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany Neck Profile
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany's neck profile

No single neck shape is better than others. However, most people tend to prefer a thinner necks because it doesn't get in their way when playing fast and most hand sizes can adapt to it pretty well. However, some people still prefer thicker necks for a better grip, especially if they have big hands.

Both the Yamaha FS820 and the Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany have a C-shaped neck. This is what you'll find in most modern guitars. Most people feel like the thickness of a C neck is simply the less intrusive one for playing fast, while at the same time allowing you to grab the neck easily for resting if you want to.

Fretboard Radius

Yamaha FS820 Fingerboard Radius
Yamaha FS820's Fingerboard radius
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany Fingerboard Radius
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany's Fingerboard radius

Most guitar fretboards are not flat; they usually have a curve or arc across their width. A curved fretboard will make it easier to perform chords without muting strings, while a flatter one will make it easier to play single notes, which is good for bending and soloing in general. The best fretboards have a compound radius that varies across the fingerboard, but they're not common since they take a lot more work to build.

In this case, the Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany's fingerboard radius is smaller, which means it's more curved than the Yamaha FS820's. This extra arc will make playing chords easier in this model. You won't be as likely to mute the strings, especially if you have big hands. However, playing single notes and bending will be easier on the Yamaha FS820.

Still, both tend to favor soloing over chords, so if you're looking for a guitar for playing rhythm, you might want something else with a radius closer to a Stratocaster's 9.5''.

Hand Size Comfortability

Everyone has a different hand size, and that's why it's recommended to try a guitar before buying, even if others tell you that it's comfortable to play. However, we can know whether a guitar favors small or large hands just by knowing its exact measurements.

After taking into account the scale length, nut width, neck profile and fretboard radius, we can conclude that both in this comparison favor small hands .

Yamaha FS820:
Big Hands
Small Hands
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany:
Big Hands
Small Hands

Fret Size

Yamaha FS820 Frets Size
Yamaha FS820's Frets Size
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany Frets Size
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany's Frets Size

The Yamaha FS820 has Medium frets, which should be taller than the Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany's Vintage frets.

Some people prefer taller frets because they result in more sustain since the strings get pressed cleanly without interference from the fretboard. However, if they're too tall—like Jumbo frets—, you might change the pitch of the strings accidentally if you press too hard because you won't be touching the fretboard with your fingers. This is also why some guitarists with a heavy grip prefer smaller frets. They like to feel the fingerboard to avoid pressing down too hard and getting out of pitch.

Final Playability Scores

Yamaha FS820
Bending & Vibrato Ease 80
Chord Playability 70
Solo Playability 80
Playability 77
Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany
Bending & Vibrato Ease 75
Chord Playability 65
Solo Playability 80
Playability 73

Specs Side-by-Side

Yamaha FS820 vs Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany
General Yamaha FS820 Fender CD-60SCE Dreadnought All-Mahogany
Brand: Yamaha Fender
Year: 2016 2018
Strings: 6 6
Made in: China Indonesia
Series: FG / FGX Classic Design
Colors: Red Natural
Left-Handed Version: No No
Body
Type: Hollowbody Hollowbody
Body Material: Solid Spruce Solid Mahogany
Sides Material: Mahogany Mahogany
Back Material: Mahogany Mahogany
Bridge: Rosewood or Walnut Walnut
Neck
Neck Joint: Set Set
Tuners: Die-Cast Chrome (TM29T) Chrome Die-Cast
Fretboard: Rosewood or Walnut Walnut
Neck Material: Nato Mahogany
Decoration: Dots 3mm Pearloid Dot
Scale Size: 25" 25.3"
Shape: Acoustic C Acoustic Fender 'Easy-to-Play' shape with rolled fretboard edges
Frets: 20 Medium Nickel Silver 20 Vintage Nickel Silver
Fretboard Radius: 15.75" 12"
Nut: Plastic Plastic
Nut Width: 43mm (1.693'') 43mm (1.693'')
Electronics
Bridge Pickup: Fishman CD-1 Preamp (Preamp / Passive)